The Greenwood Leflore Consolidated School District plans to spend $35 million in federal COVID relief funds during the upcoming school year, and none of it is eligible for constructing new buildings.
The money, routed to the district through the Mississippi Department of Education, is earmarked instead for building improvements, according to Kelia Washington, finance director.
Where the money is spent “has to be in progress,” Washington explained Tuesday when asked shortly after the district’s board retired to a private location at the District Service Building for a closed session on personnel matters. The board had just finished plowing through a 4½-page agenda and a thick packet of documents concerning everything from arrangements with Life Help to the Mississippi Forestry Commission to liability insurance to inventory removal.
The school district plans to hold a public hearing on the proposed budget at 5:30 p.m. June 15 at the Service Building on U.S. 82. The hearing is to give the public a chance to speak about proposed taxes for the school system, which might increase the countywide tax rate.
The budget for the current school year includes revenues of $66 million, with about 19% — or roughly $12 million – raised by local taxes.
The budget for the upcoming school year, which starts July 1, increases money from property taxes to nearly
$13 million, but that is only 13% of overall projected revenues of a little more than $101 million. This is because the COVID relief money is included.
Information on how that money might be used was not available.
- Contact Susan Montgom-ery at 581-7241 or smontgom-ery@gwcommonwealth.com.
